Relationships, Phone Calls and What I Call Life
by detective-sweetheart
Summary: Abby was on the phone with Bayliss, according to Rose, who sat with me, on the back porch swing, having a conversation on marriage, of all things.


**A/N: LSM, a scene between John and Rose with Abby thrown in for good measure. H:LOTS is not mine, and this is set after the credits roll on 'Forgive Us Our Trespasses', the last ep of H:LOTS. **

* * *

"You know, I would tell you that marriage isn't something so lightly stepped into, but I have the feeling you're tired of that lecture by now."

"You're not funny, Rose."

"I wasn't trying to be."

Silence. I wondered why I had come here in the first place, and had the feeling that come morning, I wasn't going to want to deal with whatever happened, but at the moment, I didn't care.

"I find it hard to believe," said Rose, "That you managed to piss her off after a few hours of being married. What happened?"

"You don't want to know," I said. "Trust me, you don't want to know. And in any case, I wouldn't tell you even if you did."

She held up her hands in mock defeat. "Fine," she said. "We'll leave it at that. But it doesn't explain why you've left your blushing bride to come here."

"Because I like you better than I like her, honestly," I said, and wondered vaguely if Kai and Michelle were on the other side of the sliding door, listening in on us like they sometimes did.

"Don't worry," said Rose, somehow reading whatever expression I was wearing, "They're locked in the family room watching movies. Michelle's trying to distract her from the fact that for once, you're off and _not_ hanging out with her."  
"Way to make a guy feel guilty, Rose," I said dryly. "I would expect a comment of that sort to come from Abby."

"Yes, well, Abby's found herself somewhat distracted by a conversation with Detective Bayliss; don't ask," Rose replied. I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"With Bayliss?" I asked. "She does know that he cleaned his desk out earlier, doesn't she?"

"I suppose that's what she's talking to him about, I don't know, because I prefer not to listen in on my sister's phone calls," Rose told me, and then, "Don't think you're going to go in there and play the protective older brother, either."

"I wouldn't dream of it," I said, somewhat amused. "I just find it oddly funny that she's talking to Bayliss, seeing as I just talked to him about an hour ago."

"I don't think I want to know," said Rose, and then, "I suppose I won't tell you that I told you so about Billie Lou then."  
"You just did," I pointed out. "Besides, it's not so bad. Suppose I ought to find some way to lock her out of the Waterfront now, though."

"That bad, huh? I think you've just set a record for the shortest marriage ever, John."  
"Just because you were married for twenty years," I said, and cut myself off, knowing that neither of us were going to like whatever else it was that I had to say. "Never mind. But I really do like you more than I like her."  
"Well, hell, maybe we should've ended up married, then," Rose quipped, a faint smirk on her face. "Actually, I think I'd be liable to kill you if I were married to you."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," I replied. "What keeps you from killing me right now, then?"

"The fact that I can tell you to leave when I get tired of you and you have to do it, because otherwise you're trespassing."  
I laughed. "Sometimes I wonder what I would do without you, Rose," I said. "I think you're the one person I know who can actually put things into perspective."

"Well, Abby's pretty good at it, she's just a lot more…sarcastic about it, to the point of being bitchy at some points."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that so if she ever asks what you really think of her, I don't have to say anything."  
"Trust me, I've already told her." Rose pushed back so that we started swinging back and forth on that old porch swing that was liable to fall apart at any minute. "I gotta get a new one at some point."

"Yeah, you do," I told her, "If Abby comes out here and jumps on us, as is her habit, it'll probably break."  
"She's too busy talking to Bayliss. I know they're friends, but she doesn't talk on the phone this long to anyone but you."

Another silence. It was warm out, because it was starting to become sooner, and within a few weeks, outside Baltimore would become unbearable. But for the moment, it was tolerable, and so we remained where we were.

"You know, most people say the third time is the charm," I remarked, finally. "Guess you could say I'm a sucker for punishment."

Rose shook her head at me. "No," she said. "What I could say is that you're the sort of guy who isn't going to marry just anyone, especially because you have a child." She trailed off for a moment, and looked at me. "Sooner or later, you'll find someone."

"You're such an optimist. You haven't found anyone yet, and how long as it been?"

"Seventeen years." Rose pushed back again and went on. "Right after Michelle was born. And then I came home, and there was you, and there was Abby. I'm one of those people that doesn't need someone else, John, I've got everything I need."  
But there was a note in her voice that I didn't miss, but couldn't place, and I knew somehow that she missed the sort of companionship she'd had when she had been married.

"And what's going to happen when I finally leave Baltimore, and Michelle finally gets married, and Abby decides to move out?" I asked.

"Well, then I'll have time for someone else, but right now I've got a family to take care of," said Rose, offering up a faint smile. "Suppose you could say I work two jobs: one part-time, one full-time."  
"That I could," I said, and then, "Does it annoy you, watching me jump from one relationship to the next?"

A question I knew she didn't want to answer, and a question that I knew she would answer, because she disliked leaving things unsaid unless it was obvious what would be said without her saying it.

"Yes," she said, finally. "It does annoy me. And the reason it annoys me is because I'm sitting here watching you settle for things you shouldn't be settling for, when I know that all you want is someone to come home to, and someone who loves your daughter as much as you do."

"Well, I suppose this relationship isn't going to work, then; Kai is determined to give Billie Lou hell, and I can't say I don't think it's funny."  
"Well, at least you can count on her to have a mind above the border," said Rose, and I gave her a mock surprised look.

"And here I was thinking that you were the still somewhat innocent one out of our little trio," I said. "I think you've just proven me wrong."

Rose rolled her eyes. "John, I live with Abby and Michelle. Any innocence I might have had about that sort of thing is long gone."

Another silence, and this one lingered, broken by the sound of cars driving down the street, because Baltimore never really seemed to settle down; someone was always out and someone was always in.

"You know, it's a lot easier to talk to you about things like this than it is to talk to Abby," I remarked, and Rose looked over at me.

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"Because Abby laughs at me, that's why. You don't. I can talk to her about case files and life and all that, but all the parenting stuff and the relationship issues…"

"To be honest with you, John, before I met Michael, I had relationship issues, too. It just wasn't as obvious as everyone else's."

"I take it that's why you seem to understand exactly where I'm coming from, then."

"Yeah, pretty much." Rose trailed off and smirked at me. "Just wait. In a few years, Kai will probably be talking to you about the exact same thing."

"She'd better not even think about talking to me about parenting until she's married, and she better not get married until she's forty."

Rose laughed. "You're more protective than I am," she said. "I doubt she's going to just jump into a relationship; she's seen you do it too many times."

"Yes, thank you, for once again pointing out my shortcomings and also pointing out that my daughter has noticed them, too. By the way, she comments on it more than you do."

"That's because she's at that stage where she's convinced that you and me and Abby are all trying to ruin her life. She'll get over it."

"You know, she told me I was ruining her life before I dropped her off here earlier on."

"Well, it'd be hard not to ruin her life after making Billie Lou her stepmother; for heaven's sake, John, didn't you think about that?"

"Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm wondering what the hell I was on when I proposed in the first place."

I knew if I looked Rose in the eye after that remark, I would laugh, but she looked at me anyway, and I did, and so did she.

"Sometimes I think we're just too high on life to think about what we're doing, and then by the time we do it, it's done and there's no going back."

"That's what the courts are for," I said. "Some things, you can go back on."

"Whatever you did can't possibly have been that bad that you're already contemplating divorce."

"No, but she might be."

"I think I know what you're talking about right now, and I really don't want to think of the two of you like that, so we're going to leave it there."

She pushed back again and we continued swinging. "Do you ever wonder what it would be like if it were impossible to find that certain someone?" she asked.

"No, because I already know what it's like," I said. "You, on the other hand, don't, and therefore, you have to wonder."

"Ok then, let me ask you this. Do you ever wonder what it would be like if neither of us had any kids?"

"Yeah. And then I feel guilty about it, so I stop thinking about it. I don't want to think about not having a kid."

"Neither do I."

This conversation was getting to the point where it was completely random, which happened more often with Rose than it did with Abby, and which I was perfectly comfortable with, as was she.

"You think I should go back and find out if she's still there?" I asked, but by this point, Rose had leaned over so that her head was on my shoulder, and she looked over at me.

"Nope," she said. "I think you should stay here and let her stew for a while, because she deserves it, and because I don't like her."

I shook my head at her. "Now you sound like Abby," I said.

"Well, Abby doesn't like her either, so that makes three of us against one. Majority rules, you know."

"So you and Abby and Kai are going to dictate to me how my relationships go and who I get into a relationship with?"

"No. Well, Abby and I aren't, anyway, but you know as well as we do that you'll drop someone the minute it looks like Kai doesn't like them. I can't see why you haven't done it yet with this one."

"Call it stupidity."

"Trust me, I will."

And yet again, there was silence. This time, it only lingered because neither of us could think of anything to say. I was content to listen to the sounds of the city for a little bit, but after a while, it got on my nerves, and I turned to say something to Rose. She was already asleep. I rolled my eyes, and stopped the swing, got up, picked her up and carried her inside. Abby looked up from the phone conversation she was in as I pushed the sliding door closed with my foot.

"Damn, John, if I knew you were that good at putting a woman to sleep…" she said, and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Tell Bayliss I said hello," I said, and she gave me a startled look. I laughed and carried Rose upstairs, tucking her into bed before poking my head into the so-called upstairs family room. Kai and Michelle were completely oblivious to my presence. I closed the door quietly behind me, and walked back downstairs to wait until Abby got off the phone so I could talk to her, too.

And as I sat there, I realized that there were few things better than what I'd always had.


End file.
